Silent Heart
by Wind And Tides
Summary: One day, Aang was murdered, yet his body was never found- and so wasn't his murderer. His friends have felt a great loss, and Katara was scarred for life. But, he appears...as a ghost. KATAANG, AU.  STORY ON HOLD
1. Chapter 1: Flowers and Birds

Hey everyone! Yes, another story. I just had this idea in my head for some time, and thought 'Hey, this might even be a nice story!'.

This is a story about Katara and her feelings for Aang. One day, Aang was murdered, yet his body as never found- and so wasn't his murderer. His friends have felt a great loss, and Katara was scarred for life. When she thought he'd never see him ever again, he appears. But, as something you wouldn't excpect as... As a ghost.

AU/Modern (our time right now). Total Kataang, slight Sukka and Maiko. Katara's POV (Point Of View) at most of the times.

I was inspired by a movie called 'Lovely Bones'. Yet this story has a bit of a turn to it.

Ages: Aang- 13, Katara- 14, Toph- 12, Sokka and Suki- 15, Zuko and Mai- 16. Don't prefer the ages? You can imagine them older, since it doesn't really matter. It's just that it's alot easier for me to write, if I know they're looks, personalities and stuff. And to know that they don't drive or are able to get married. Sorry, it's just me. ^^"

The theme is pretty much Drama, Hurt/Comfort and Romance. Viewer discression is advised.

Please review! I appreciate every critique I can get! ^.^

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><p><strong>- I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

"Now, if you nuckleheads divide ten thousand and fifteen squared by eleven times by..." Mr. Zhao, my mathematics teacher, yelled across the class. He stamped his long and yellow stick across the chalk-board, commanding for our attention. But everyone knew it was useless, unless you were a fresh-fish in this class. So, everyone kept yawning, doodling or solving the questions by themselves. Yes, an ordinary Seventh Grade, I'd say.

It was as typical as ever. Day by day, week by week, the same routine; get in class, look at the clock, leave. All of our chatting, all of our pranks and joy has been pretty much shut down, besides a few occasions. It's just, that there was nothing to do anymore. Everything was blank and boring, quiet and dull, as if dead. The whole classroom shadowed the students' grey and tired faces, which were begging to get home. In other words, it was a rainy and foggy day for mentally and literally.

I doodled flowers, birds and other stuff in my math-textbook, which only had a few mathematical stuff in it. My pen crossed, shadowed and made new lines over the paper, creating figures and creatures. It was easy to tell, I was bored.

I've never been very good at Mathematics, yet I've never got below a D+, so I was still read as one of the nerdiest ones. It's just, when I'm listening in class, I remember the most, and when I don't, I read the book, which is what no-one else besides a few do. Same goes for every other subject.

I sighed deeply, biting on my nail and eying across the classroom; some boys were chuckling and snorting in the corner, probably over a lame joke. Some girls were whispering really fast on the other corner, probably gossiping over some teachers and students who've been acting strangely. Others were either writing stuff down or staring at the chalkboard.

I turned my head slightly, and saw my bigger brother,Sokka, sleeping, his face literally covered with his textbook. He's always like this, sleepy, lazy, hungry and ignorant. I laughed lightly, knowing that when Zhao yells at him, he'll just keep sleeping, until getting spanked with his stick in the head.

I turned myself a little bit, so I could see my other friends. The two girls, Suki and Yue, were solving some exercises together. The two were one of my best friends, ever since I was three. Most of the times Yue wouldn't get new things, or Suki couldn't get the calculations. So, they always helped eachother. I smiled at them.

Then, suddenly flew over my head- something fast and small, yet I felt the blow. It splotched on someone, "Yaouch!" the victim yelped. "Is there a problem, young man?" snapped at him. "N-No, sir." he said back. "Then why wouldn't you tell us the answer of this ecuation?" the teacher teased. "I-It's five over four squared, sir." he answered, a little nervously. I saw the frown on Mr. Zhao's face- priceless. "Correct, moving on..."

Oh, yes. That was Aang, a boy who always gets everyone to smile and laugh. He has this weird yet unique thing, that makes him goofy, yet adorable and smart at the same time. You're probably thinking, I'm crushing on him? And you'd be right. I've been crushing on him for years now, and I'm head over heels for him, seriously. I can't help but to hug him every now and then- which he enjoys,and to spend time with him in all. He's great to have around, and a great friend. But, I've always wanted more...

"Ha-ha-ha, gotcha, Twinkle-Toes!" a loud whisper came from across the room- Toph. She obviously threw the piece of...whatever it was... at Aang. She's always like this, a prankster, troubler and a total tomboy. Which makes her special, though. She's also a great friend of mine, but used to be a bully once.

"T-Toph! Don't even think that you're getting away with it!" Aang whispered back, I could see his face flushed with anger. His eyebrows were twitching, and I swear his ears got bigger. Bigger than usual, I meant. Toph on the other hand, giggled and snorted quietly. I couldn't help but to chuckle myself. They always had little fights like these, and it was a great way to waste time.

"Will you quit it, guys? I'm trying to listen over here!" a voice, Zuko's came from the back. He was whispering, aswell, trying not to get caught. "Surprise, surprise, you're actually learning, Zuzu!" Toph whispered back, waving her hands at him. "Stop calling me that!" He whispered back, making Toph and Aang giggle.

Zuko was always like this- angry and way too mature for his age. He was like a mean father, or an uncle at the two. And even though he's a good friend of mine, we (or anyone else) haven't really gotten along with him. Well, except for...

"Let it go, Zuko. She can see that you're easily distracted." a calmer voice next to him said. That was Mai, his girlfriend, and the only one who understood the hot-headed teen. "As a matter of fact, Princess Boredom, I can't even see that well!" Toph whispered back. Yes, she had pretty bad eyesight, without her glasses. And, she wasn't wearing any today, because she didn't care. Typical Toph, I call it.

All of us were a bunch of strange friends. A family, we'd say, or, The Gaang- since Aang was the first one to call us a 'gang' in the first place, we added another 'a', for him. Anyway, as I said, we've been good friends for our whole lives.

By the way, I'm Katara.

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><p>I know, that was a little too short. But it was the introduction, so yeah. More chapters coming soon! Not really sad yet, but it gets alot 'worse', or 'better', depending on your point of view.<p>

Love it, hate it? Please review either way! ^.^

Also, I'd like to know, if I shold do a sad ending or a happy ending, or both? Vote, I guess. ;P

~Wind And Tides


	2. Chapter 2: Guardian Angels and Soulmates

Hi guys! I'm terribly sorry, this took for (I think) over a month to update! And the reason why is because of all the tests, my laziness and my non-mood. By non-mood, I mean that I wasn't feeling all drama-ish, gloomy-ish, sad-ish. So I couldn't really concentrate on the story. Sorry, again! D:

Also, one of the reviewers asked me, how is it possible that they're in the same grade, while having up to 4-year-age-gap? Well, it's hard to explain, but let's just say this; When a student is very, very smart, he or she gets lifted up by a grade or so. When a student isn't that educated, or needs moe help or something, he or she is put a grade below or so. Now, this happened in my old school- so this actually is pretty realistic. But, like I said before, you can always pretend that they're either at the same age or the younger ones (Aang, Toph) are just older. Since the age doesn't play a big role in this story.

Anyways! Here's chapter two!

Please review! ^_^

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><p><strong>- I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

The bell rang, and everyone started packing their things and burtsing out the door, while Mr. Zhao yelled, "You homework's on page thirty-seven, exercises five to eleven!". Great, he left another handful of tough exercises to do, as if hours in school weren't enough. But for our sort-of luck, he was one of the only ones to give us that much homework. Yet he was very sharp on checking them and making sure they're correct and neatly made.

I packed my things, and while passing Sokka, I hit him on the back of his head. He woke up, "Huh? What? Where? When?" he mumbled. "Recess. Here. Now." I ansered his questions and giggled, walking towards the door. I looked at it closely, seeing that it's paint was starting to fall apart, it's been written almost all over it, and it was rusty as it could be, when it opened and hung just there. It used to be white and beautiful, when we first came to this school.

Something pushed me, and something else pushed me further. "Toph, get back here! Ugh!" the second pusher, Aang, shouted, who got stuck between me and other people who were bursting out the door. I felt my heart beat faster as I felt his warm body on mine, chest to chest, belly to belly, cheek to cheek. I could feel my face heat up as I made an 'umph' sound. The first pusher, Toph, ran away laughing. "Umm, s-s-sorry, Katara!" he mumbled and squeezed out. I could see his soft and grey cheeks flushed bright red. I just stared at him as he ran after his friend. I wanted him, oh so badly.

I snapped out of my trance, and walked out of the room, heading for my locker. On the way, I thought of the moment me and Aang had a minute ago. His arms were so soft and warm, and his whole body against mine made me feel like in heaven- even though that he was wearing clothes. Which lead me to my next thought- if he wasn't wearing any clothes. I blushed crimson, and slapped myself. Still, the amazing feeling haunted my heart from now on.

I reached my locker, and opened it. I checked my diary and changed the books I needed for tommorrow, and the ones that I didn't.

My locker, and everyone else's, were rusty and old, with graffiti and doodles drawn over them, with lots of couples and ex-couples' names on them, alot of them crossed, alot of them filled with greyish-red hearts. And for my secret, I wrote one in the very lower-corner of my inner-locker, which sometimes even I forgot was there. It was impossible to see, with all the books infront of it, but when you removed them, you could read 'Katara x Aang' perfectly.

I checked my diary, again and realized that this was our last lesson. I was a little taken away, since I usually remember the timeline. I wonder what kept me from remembering it, this time...

I heard someone walk behind me a few feet away, and open their locker. I looked over to see who it was. It was a short boy, with grey baggy-pants, cream-yellow shirt with some light-red lines marked at the corners of it, a beanie with a blue arrow, directing to his head, with some short dark-brown hair coming out from underneath it and ofcourse, his stormy-grey eyes. Aang, ofcourse.

He was unpacking his bag and storing some books in and out of it. I couldn't help but to stare at him in bliss, smiling. I wanted to kiss his tender lips so badly, to hug his warm body, to scratch his cute head, to look into his foggy eyes and basicly, to have him mine. But my cowardness kept me from ever telling him anything. I knew that there were alot of girls who were crushing on Aang, too, and if I didn't do something, soon, he would never know. And the only thing that kept me from doing it, was the question; _Does he feel the same?_

Aang's locker shut, and he noticed me, "Hey, Katara." he said, smiling at me. I snapped out of my stupidity, and smiled back, "Hey, Aang." I said back. There was an awkward silence, until he asked, "Are you coming?". He picked up his bag and started walking backwards slowly, keeping his eyes on me, smiling. "Oh! Yeah-yeah..." I stammered and quickly finished my packing. I shut my locker, took my bag and walked next to him. He turned around, but kept his smile.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I asked, after seeing him smile at me for some time. He quikcly stopped it, and his face turned into confusion, "Oh, I was smiling?" he asked, like a complete dummy. I giggled softly, with him joining in. I loved being with him, I really did. And I cherished every moment of it.

We reached the enterance doors, and walked out to the parking lot. We both lived pretty close to the school, so actually there was no point of even going near the praking lot. But we were going to visit a special place, right through the noisy and smoky cars.

We kept walking in silence for a little while, until he asked, "So, how's it going for you?". It surprised me a little, since he always asked me that in the morning, when I came to school, not when I went out of it. "It's been... allright, I guess," I said, looking at the sky. It was grey, as always, yet I swear I could see some blue spotches of clear-blue peeking out of the clouds.

"You?" I then suddenly asked him, not knowing why I did that- I guess it's called manners. He looked at me, "Huh? Well... Not so badly,either..." he said, looking at the ground, thinking. I really seeked to know what was on his mind, since he looked a bit puzzled. He smiled, "But It's always better when you're around... So I guess I'm doing great.". I felt touched, and something inside me told me that he likes me, too. I swore that I was mistaken, and that it couldn't be, but that sentence was just... heart-proving. As if I got an answer to a really important question.

I could see him blush, and so did I. "Thanks, it's the same with you." I said, feeling very light. His lovely smile went miles, "Thanks," he said. For some reason, he kept smiling on, and this time I didn't tell him to quit. He was heavenly when he did that, anyway.

We reached our hang-out area. Well, if you can call it that. There was an inn, which was actually an old abondoned little kiosk called 'Kuzon's'. Our whole gang (or 'gaang') came across it when we were five, and ever since we started hanging out there. But, we never knew why it looked that way, what happened to it and why's nobody cleaning it up.

There was a long bench, that had our names scribbled on it. I guess this was one of our group's rituals or something. God, that sounded weird. It's just, hard to explain.

Anyway, we sat on the bench, and randomly gazed around the scenery. Usually, there would be all of us here, but today, it's just us. Maybe it's the climate? I mean, it is very foggy today, so maybe others didn't find it? But, wait. Then It struck me- this was my ideal moment to talk with Aang. No-one's here, nobody can see or hear us and it's perfectly quiet. All of a sudden, I felt brave. Just by looking at him, I felt the power to do absolutely anything, and not just today. But, right now, it was a different kind of bravery I had; a bravery to confess. I gulped.

"Everything okay, Katara? You seem a little off, today." Aang suddenly asked me, with a worried look. It made my heart ache to have him worried, so I quickly answered it with a nod. He didn't seem to be convinced, though. "No, seriously, are you ill or something? You seem a little pale." He said, moving very close to me and putting his hand on my elbow.

Now that he mentioned it, I _did_ feel a little strange. I'm not sure if it's an illness of some sort, but it made my stomach flip. Ofcourse, I feel starnge around him, in a good way, but right now, this was as some kind of an alert- or something. Uhh, I have to stop listening up in Biology class- only animals have that sortof mechanics in them. Wow- I remembered.

"I-I... Ijust feel a little dizzy, that's all." I assured him, not wanting to make him even more worried about me. Infact, usually I'm the one called the 'worry-wuss', especially around Aang.

He moved his hand back on the bentch, sighing.

I couldn't hold it in, I was going to spill it all out- my confession, secrets, everything! Oh god, no, Katara, hold it in, maybe it's not the right time, yet. I started playing with my hair, and looked away, blushing a little- I could tell I was.

"You know, Katara," Aang started. I looked at him. "some people say, that every human has an angel. A guardian angel," he continued. "and some people say that we have soulmates, who guard and protect us and, love, us." I felt a little confused. "What are you talking about?" I asked him. "I mean," he looked up to me. "wouldn't they be the same thing, then? If they both love and protect us. They both want to help us through the rough, do absolutely anything to keep us safe and happy, and they both love us more than anything. Also, we have a special connection to both of them the first time we meet them." Aang said, and looked up at the sky. I couldn't help but to do that, aswell.

"I think they are the same thing." I said, smiling at him. He smiled back. If Sokka was here, he would have called this a crazy-talk. If Toph was here, she would be on the ground, laughing. If Zuko was here, he'd say he's been paying too much attention in class. So, was I the only one who understood him? I mean, the things he just said now, were magical. Normally, guys don't talklike that at all, no matter what age they're in. But Aang was special- to me. I believed that he was an angel, and I hoped that he was my soulmate. I've felt a sparkling connection with him the first time I layed eyes on him, and I knew that he's an angel. So, should I tell him my feelings, now?

Suddenly, I felt something soft and warm touch my hand. I looked, and I saw that it was Aang's hand, taking a grip of mine. I blushed crimson, and squeezed his hand lightly. He squeezed back. I looked upto him- he was smiling and blushing. My own smile crept onto my face, aswell, and I felt a bliss. Our eyes met, and I swore that we were moving our faces together. This was the perfect moment-

_Ring, ring, ring!_ Something inside Aang's pocket went. He looked away and took it, leaving my hand. I felt a huge wave of disapointment flood over me. Darn it!

"Hello?" he asked into the phone. I could hear someone older, probably Gyatso- he's guardian, talking. "Okay, Bye." He said and put the phone back. I was ready for shot number two, but he stood up and took his bag. "I'm terribly sorry, Katara, but I have to go. Gyatso called me, and he says he wants me home." He said, looking at me. "Ohh... Well, okay. I'll see you then, Aang." I said, a little sad.

Then, out of nowhere, he came right next to me and kissed me on the cheek. Then, he ran away, "Bye, Katara!" shoting and disappearing into the fog.

I blushed madly than ever before. He kissed me, on the cheek! I could hear the heaven's choir- I swore I could. I let out a long and happy sigh, placing my fingers softly at the spot where his lips touched it. Ofocurse, I was surprised, since I've been the one placing kisses on his cheeks, when he's done something sweet to me. But, I didn't do anything, so, was this a sign? Oh, I hope it was.

_Ring, ring, ring!_ Something in my bag rang. I snapped out of my dreamland, and searched it from my bag, answering it. "Hello?" I asked. "_Katara? Get home, now!"_ I heard my brother shout from my phone. "Allright, allright, sheesh, take a chill-pill, Sokka!" I said back, a little annoyed from his sudden 'burst'. I cancelled the call and put the phone back in my bag, getting up and walking towards my house.

It was incredibly foggy, like I said earlier. The trees had got only a few leaves on them, the rest were either spinning around or gathered into a lazy pile. The road which I walked on was embty and silent, and I got a little nervous.

I felt a twist is my stomach, just like the one that I felt when I was talking with Aang. Again! I felt an alert or something, that told me to instinctively increase speed. So I did. I pretty much ran home, unaware of the 'alert' that I had. I reached my house, and unlocked the door-knob, stepping in and placing my bag on the shelf.

"I'm home!" I yelled across the house. I regained my breath, and could hear loud and fast footsteps coming from upstairs. I saw my dad and Sokka sprint across me, and then hugging my tightly. "Woah, you guys are eager for dinner, aren't you? Seriously, what's going on?" I asked them. They quit hugging, and had serious faces on them. But they kept silent. I watched their faces in confusion, "Is everything allright? What happened?" I asked, again. My dad looked away, breathed in and said, "We were very worried about your condition. There's something going on around here, and we know what." He said. I still didn't undertsand a thing, and so I said to them. Sokka took my hand and lead me to the TV-room.

"You have to see this, but promise me you won't freak out." He said, a hint of sadness in his eyes. Now, I got worried- whatever made Sokka so serious and sad, must have been pretty terrible. He sat me down on the couch, while putting on the television and switching to the channel I assume he was looking for.

The screen showed a reporter talking on a foggy road, while alot of police-officers and other men and women in suits walked across the scenery. _"__We got a report from this area, called The Silent Heart, that a possible murder had taken place,"_ The Silent Heart street... that's where Aang lived! I shouted in my head, but kept listening. _"__The murderer was probably the one who escaped from a nearby prison a few weeks ago- a man who has caused many deaths and once was a tyrant of a great company. But due to his own craziness, he was put into a mental hospital, where he escaped and continued to make havoc across the whole country for years. He was then caught and put to prison for ten years, and now has seemed to had escaped. All of this information was classified until now."_ The reporter kept talking. I could feel incredible amount of fear bulge into my head, but I still kept listening carefully.

The camera now showed the road, which was covered in possibly liters of blood, spread across the whole place. I looked closely and saw a piece of yellowish-cloth on the road.

_Aang..._

After than, everything went black for me, and I fainted.

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><p>Dun, dun duuun! A cliffhanger? Sorry, yes.<p>

So, love it, hate it? Please review either way! ^.^

~Wind And Tides


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